Suzanne Tassier

Suzanne Tassier-Charlier (4 June 1898 - 12 March 1956) was a Belgian historian, political activist, feminist, and Professeur ordinaire. She was the first Belgian woman to be awarded a higher education degree in her country.

Biography Suzanne Tassier was born in Antwerp on 4 June 1898. Her father was Major General Emile Tassier. She began her studies at the École normale de Bruxelles. World War I forced her to continue and complete her secondary education abroad, first in the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, then in Versailles, Yvelines, France. Back in Belgium after the war, she entered the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1919 where she studied history. At the instigation of , she turned to contemporary history and produced a thesis entitled , which enabled her to obtain her doctorate in 1923, after which she entered the Lycée Emile Max in Schaerbeek in July 1924.

Career From her years of study at the ULB, Tassier became a liberal political and social activist by participating as early as 1920 in the (Student Movement for Moral Culture) by founding the , and by participating in the .

While working as a high school teacher, Tassier resumed her studies and, in November 1934, During this trip, Tassier discovered the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, dedicated to the study of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917.

In 1940 and 1941, following the eviction of professors Frans van Kalken and Michel Huisman at ULB by the Nazi occupiers, Tassier took over some of their courses. In 1945, Michel Huisman having left his position, she took over most of his teaching, as well as some other courses, and officially became a professeur ordinaire at ULB in 1948.

While after World War II, her work was published in a number of journals and collective works, her important publications became rarer. There was another compilation work in 1944, , which reprinted articles that had appeared before the war, a reworked part of her 1934 dissertation, and the introductory lesson of her course ; the same year, , for a world war museum and an office of contemporary documentation; in 1951, ; as well as a variety of other articles and contributions up to 1954. Her legacy is honored by the Suzanne Tassier-Charlier Chair at ULB, since 1963.

Selected works Les démocrates belges de 1789 : Étude sur le Vonckisme et la révolution brabançonne, 1929 Histoire de la Belgique sous l'occupation franc̜aise en 1792 et 1793, 1934 Un grand centre historique américain : la Hoover Library, 1940 Figures révolutionnaíres, XVIII siècle, 1942 Idées et profils du XVIIIe siècle, 1944 L'histoire de la guerre mondiale : pour un Musée de la guerre mondiale et un Office de documentation contemporaine, 1944 La technique des révolutions nationales et le duel Cornet de Grez - Verlooy : une cause inconnue de la première coalition, 1947 La Belgique et l'entrée en guerre des États-Unis, 1914-1917, 1950 Figures révolutionnaíres, XVIII siècle, 1954 Aux origines de la Première coalition : le ministre Le Brun Tondu : par Suzanne Tassier, 1954 La Jeunesse de l'historien Michel Huisman, par Suzanne Tassier, 1954